Judge blocks state worker layoffs, state will appeal

Monday

Sep 28, 2009 at 12:01 AMSep 28, 2009 at 7:59 PM

A southern Illinois judge's ruling Monday means hundreds of correctional officers and other state workers won't be facing unemployment as originally planned. Judge Todd Lambert's preliminary injunction puts on hold more than 500 layoffs set to start Wednesday.

Ryan Keith

John Black and his colleagues at one of the state prisons in Lincoln can breathe a little easier – for now.

A southern Illinois judge's ruling Monday means hundreds of correctional officers and other state workers won't be facing unemployment as originally planned. Judge Todd Lambert's preliminary injunction puts on hold more than 500 layoffs set to start Wednesday.

Black is an officer and union president at Logan Correctional Center, where more than 100 officers were targeted for layoffs. He said there was a visible sign of relief after weeks of tension leading up to the ruling.

"We've got a lot of happy people out there," Black said.

But Black understands it's not over.

Gov. Pat Quinn's administration says it will appeal the Johnson County court ruling to the Fifth District Appellate Court, which covers southern Illinois. His administration did not answer questions about when the appeal would be filed or what specific arguments would be made to get a different outcome.

"We will be appealing today's court decision on the basis that our plan is responsible and legally sound. We are asking that the court not intervene as we work to save the state from this financial emergency," Quinn spokeswoman Ashley Cross said.

Cross added that Quinn will look for other cuts that "can be made to offset the excessive costs of keeping employees scheduled for layoffs on the state payroll."

Deep state budget woes prompted Quinn to propose laying off about 2,600 workers this year as part of $1 billion in belt-tightening.

Nearly 560 workers in 10 state agencies were set to be laid off over the next month, with about 480 of those coming Sept. 30 and the rest on Oct. 31, according to numbers provided by Quinn's administration.

The Department of Corrections saw by far the biggest hit of the bunch, with nearly 420 layoffs. Logan received the most job cuts, along with prisons in Vienna, Vandalia, Decatur and East Moline.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 union, representing many of those prison workers, sued in Johnson County last month. It argued the layoffs would increase unemployment, drive up already-high overtime costs and put staff and inmates at even greater security risk.

After an all-day hearing last week, Lambert determined AFSCME had a strong enough case to justify holding up the layoffs. He ordered the two sides to work out their differences through arbitration or some other kind of negotiations.

"The risk to the employees targeted for layoff or laid off fair outweighs any damages or other harm the state may suffer by having to delay the layoffs pending arbitration of the pending grievances," Lambert wrote in his four-page order.

AFSCME Executive Director Henry Bayer applauded the judge's decision.

"AFSCME calls on Governor Quinn to use this opportunity to revisit his ill-advised layoff plan," Bayer said in a statement. "He should rescind the layoffs, protect vital services and save jobs."

But Cross said the state has to make tough choices in an extraordinary financial crisis, and the administration believes it has done everything required before going the layoff route.

That includes talks with AFSCME where Quinn offered to scale back layoffs if the union agreed to concessions such as giving back a pay increase its workers received this year and taking 12 furlough days. The union refused, saying that would cost workers as much as 15 percent in salary while still meaning 1,000 workers would be laid off.

Layoffs for about 25 non-union workers will proceed as scheduled, Quinn's administration confirmed.

Black said the ruling should send the message to the administration that other areas are better for cost cutting. He and AFSCME officials said the governor should now focus on ways to bring in more revenue to deal with the budget problem.

He said the ruling should cause Corrections to change its mind about early release of about 1,000 non-violent offenders, as cost savings there were coordinated with the layoffs.

"You've kind of got to rethink your game plan," Black said.

Januari Smith, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections, said the agency plans to go ahead with its early release program.

Ryan Keith can be reached at (217) 788-1518 or ryan.keith@sj-r.com.

What's next

The Quinn administration plans to appeal Judge Todd Lambert's decision in the lawsuit filed by the AFSCME Council 31 union that blocks for now layoffs of hundreds of state workers.

That appeal will be filed with the Fifth District Appellate Court. Quinn spokeswoman Ashley Cross did not comment Monday on when that appeal would be filed, saying details are still being reviewed and worked on.